Ben E King - Spanish Harlem

Jerry Leiber & Phil Spector wrote Spanish Harlem. Released on the last day of 1960. Got up to #10, #15 R&B chart. Romeo Penque does the nice touch of sax - a soprano sax (1:50). Out of favor for decades (think Sidney Bechet), the soprano began making a comeback about this time. Benjamin Earl King (born September 28, 1938), better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of “Stand by Me,“ a U.S. top 10 hit in both 1961 and 1987 and a #1 hit in the UK in 1987, and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters. King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson in Henderson, North Carolina and moved to Harlem, New York City, New York, at the age of nine. In 1958, he joined a doo wop group called The Five Crowns. Later that year, The Drifters’ manager fired the members of the group and replaced them with The Five Crowns, who had performed several engagements with the Drifters.